Machine for attaching bails to cans



April 11, 1939. T. J. GORMAN. JR

MACHINE FOR ATTACHING BAILS TO CANS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 10. 1937ATTORNEY.

April 11, 1939. T. J. GORMAN. JR

MACHINE FOR ATTACHING BAILS TO CANS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 10, 1937April 11, 1939. T. J. GOR MANQJR MACHINE FOR ATTACHING BAILS TO CANS 4Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 10, 1957 EWM/V/k ATTORNEY.

T. J. GORMAN. JR 4 MACHINE FOR ATTACHING BAILS TO CANS I April 11, 1939.

Filed June J 0, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. WWII \N. Y NY PatentedApr. 11, 1939 UNITED STAT PATENT OFFICE 8 Claims.

This invention relates to the type of machines for placing balls on cansautomatically.

An object of this invention is to provide a machine which will store agroup of wire bails or handles, said machine selecting from said storedgroup one handle or bail at a time and affixing the same upon a can.

A further object of this invention is to provide a machine for fixingbails on cans while said cans are in either an upright or in horizontalpositions during the process of aflixing handles upon the cansaforesaid.

Referring to the figures-- Fig. 1 is a side view of a machine forplacing bails upon cans, said bails being delivered to said machine inhorizontally parallel position.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the machine shown in Fig. 1 taken on a line2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is aview of a can taken on a line 3--3 of Fig. 1, said figureshowing the stopping arrangement for said can and a conveyor belt thatdelivers said can to the machine.

Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view taken on a line 4-4 of Fig. 1, saidfigure showing the mechanism which places the wire balls on the cans,the nonoperative position of said mechanism being indicated in fullline, and the operative position being shown in broken lines.

Fig. 5 is a side view taken on a line 5-5 of Fig. 4. The aforesaid viewis turned to a 90 angle from the plane of which the drawing is shown.

Fig. 6 shows a modified arrangement of the machine to that shown in'Fig. 1, said machine being used when said cans are delivered in uprightposition to the bail placing machinery.

Fig. '7 is a plan view taken on a line l-l of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a section taken through 3-8 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 9 is taken on a line 9-9 of Fig. 10 and shows the manner the cans Aare delivered to the bail placing machine. Fig. 10 is a detail of thecan stopping mechanism. Fig. 11 is a top plan view of the machine takenon a line |||l of Fig. 9. Fig. 12 is a detail view of the can stoppingdevice showing its position at the time of said cam release.

Referring to Fig. 1, the numerals designated as Ill and II are the sideframes which support the mechanism I2 of the bail placing machine; saidframes also serve to secure said machine to the body I3 of the canfilling machine through the medium of screws H.

The casting I5 is secured to extension ears Hi and ll of the side framesl0 and II, said frames protruding above the surfaces i8 and IQ of thecasting I0 and II. The casting l5 serves to support a bail basket 20.

A number of balls 2| is placed inside the bail basket 20 by the operatorof the machine. The wire bails 2| due to their gravity drop upon acasting 22. The casting 22 is provided with a shelf 23 which is sunkinto the casting 22 so that when one of the balls 2| drops upon saidshelving, said bail will not protrude above the top surface of thecasting 22. The casting 22 is secured to a pair of leg shaped members 24and 25, said members being secured to said casting by means of screws26.

A further pair of leg shaped members 21 and 28 are reversibly secured tothe surfaces l8 and I9 of the side frames l0 and II by means of screws29.

In this manner the casting 22 is enabled to slide reciprocally throughthe medium of the leg shaped members 24 between the surfaces l8 and I9and the reversibly mounted leg shaped members 21 and 28.

A shaft 30 is held by means of bearings 3|, said bearings extending froma casting 32. A worm gear 33 is pinned on said shaft 3|. A worm 34 issecured to a shaft 35 which rotates in a bearing 36 of the casting 32. Atoothed clutch 31 is slidably mounted at the opposite end of the shaft35.

A similar toothed clutch 38 that is secured to a pulley belt 39 rotatesfreely upon the shaft 35.

When the gear clutch 31 is connected to the gear clutch 38, the worm 34which is secured to the shaft 35 rotates the worm gear 33. A bevel gear40 which is in engagement with the bevel gear 4|, turns a square shapedshaft 42. The bevel gear 4| is held in place by means of the bearing 43,said bearing being also held by means of the shaft 35, said shaftprojecting through the bearing 44. The square shaped shaft 42 is placedinto asquare opening 45 of the member 46. said member 48 being securedto a flexible coupling 47 which in turn is secured to a shaft 48. Saiddraft 48 is secured to a disc hub 49. The disc hub 49 (see Fig. 4) has atooth shaped member 50 secured to it. A similar tooth shaped member 5|is secured to an L-shaped bracket 52. One leg 53 of the bracket 52" issecured to a slidably mounted member 54. The opposite leg 55 of thebracket 52 is pivoted to a hinging arm 53 that hinges at the pointdesignated as 51. The hinging arm 56 is secured to a slidably mountedmember 58.

A set of pins 59 and 60 are secured to both members 54 and 58. When thewire bail 2|, (see Fig. 4), drops out of the bail basket 20 on the 4 thecasting i5. Said plates are shafts l0 and locate themselves in the spacebetween pins 59 .and of the slidably mounted members 54 and A pair ofpins BI and 62 serve to hold the bracket 52 below the casting 22 in sucha manner that the bracket 52 can be slid due to the pins Bi and 82 beinglocated in slots 62 of the bracket 62.

The casting 22 is provided with a pair of ears 84 and 85. A pair ofoscillating arms 68 and 61, is hinged at one end on a shaft l8, and theopposite ends of said arm are secured to the ears 84 and 85 of thecasting 22.

A section 89 of the oscillating arms 86 and 01 has a slot 10. A pin IIis placed into said slot 10 and is secured to a rotating disc 12 on oneside of the machine and to a disc 12 on the opposite side of saidmachine. The discs 12 and 12' are secured to the shaft Ill and rotatewith it.

A pair of hinged plates 12 and means of the pin 15, said pin beingsecured to forced into the position shown in dotted lines illustrated inFig. 4 by means of spring II. the latter being secured to said castingI! by means of the screw 11.

A pair of pins 18 are secured to the casting 22, said pins serve to openthe plates 12 and 14 and then into the position shown in Fig. 4 when thecasting 22 returns from its position shown in broken lines. A spring 12serves to hold the bracket 52 in the position shown in Fig. 4.

Referring to the modification shown in Fig. 6, the mechanism l2 forplacing the bails to the cans is similar to the arrangement described inFig. 1.

In this particular case, instead of using two oscillating arms 86 and 61as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, there are provided a pair of sliding shafts80 and 80'. The shaft ll slides into the bearing 8| of the casting 82and a bearing 83 of the casting 84. of the casting 82, and into abearing 82 of the casting 84. A pair of discs 24'' and II similar tothat of discs 12 and 12 which are incorporatedin the machine shown inFigs. 1 and 2 are also used in the machine shown in Fig. 6. Themechanism for driving discs-l4' and I! is similarto that of themechanism described in Figs. 1 2; in this particular case, however, theworm gear 24 is rotated by the shaft 25. said shaft being rotated in acasting 88.

A pair of castings B1 and 88 are secured to the 80". The castings l1 and28 are provided with slots 89. A pair of pins 20 are slidably mounted inslots 89. Said pins are also rigidly secured to the discs 84* and 85.The end section SI of the shafts 80 and 80' are secured to the casting22 by means of the ears 92. The casting IS in this instance is held inplace by the protruding members 22 of the casting Ii.

Referring to Fig. 1, the can A is delivered to the bail placing machineon the track B and is rolled along by means of the belt 0, said beltbeing moved by means of the rollers D in the direction shown by thearrow in Fig. 3.

A stopping bar E is provided on the can filling machine It to arrest themovement of said can when said can shall have arrived exactly at theposition as shown in Fig. 3, the aforesaid position of said can beingnecessary to enable the bail 2| to be affixed upon said can.

In Fig. 6, the can A is delivered to the bail placing machine in anupright position through the medium of the conveyor belt F. In this in-14 are hinged by i The shaft 80' slides into a bearing 8| 2,154,071shelf 23 the ends 2i and 2| of said wire bail stance the can is held inthe necessary precise position for placing said bails upon said cans bymeans of an arm H which is operated by the can filling machine II.

The stopping arms E and H are required to be operated in such a mannerthat when the mechanism l2 of either machines returns for the nextfollowing wire bail, said stopping arm is cleared out of the path of thecan A in order that a new can may be brought forward. Immediately afterthe can A leaves the machine, the stopping arms E and H are brought intoposition and in readiness to hold the can in place and for the placingof the next oncoming bail. The clutches 31 and 38 are brought intooperation in conjunction with the stopping arms E and H so that whenthere is no can on the machine the clutch 31 remains disconnected fromthe clutch 38.

Referring to Fig. 9. when a can A is delivered to the bail placingmachine said can stops against the stop E. The ear of the can depressesthe stop I: which in turn operates the moving arm K thereby causing theoperation of the clutch 31, 22 shown in Fig. 1.

When the bail placing machine returns to receive another ball the cam Bpushes the stop E to its downward limit thus releasing the can uponwhich the bail has become afiixed, and also from rolling further, saidstopping arm placing itself directly in the path of the can. Since theconveyor belt is in continuous operation in the direction shown in Fig.3, the can A, although prevented from rolling, continues to turn on itscircumference until the ear G of said can A stops against the stop E.Due to the movement of the aforesaid belt 0, the ear G of the can A isforced against the stop arm E and presses against said stop armtoward'said arm in the direction as shown, the movement aforesaidautomatically operating an arm K, said arm connecting the toothed clutch21 to the toothed clutch 22. The leather bet I0 is continuously rotatingand is driven by the motor of the filling machine it comes activated inthe following manner: The

worm 24 turns on the worm gear 23, said gear being secured to the shaft35 and operates the oscillating arms I and '1 through the medium of thediscs I2 and 12'. The arms I! and 41 cause the casting 22 to slidereciprocally as shown in Fig. 4. During the aforesaid operation, thebevel gear 42 engages the bevel gear 4| which in turn operates thesquare shaped shaft 42, said shaft 42 .belng slidably mounted on theflexible coupling 41 and which turns the disc 42. The toothed shapedmember I. that is secured to the disc 49 rotates with said disc.

The tooth shaped member ll being secured on the slidably mountedL-shaped bracket 42 is placed into the path of the rotating member ll.As soon as said bracket I2 contacts with members II, said member Si iscarried along thus compelling the L-shaped member to move in thedirection shown leg I! of the forced the slidably mounted member 84 soas to be moved into the position shown by the arrow. The slidablgmounted member 58 also moves into the position shown by the arrow, dueto the hinging movement of the arm 58..

The movement of both the casting 22, moving forward in the directionshown by the arrow, and the movement of the slidably mounted members 54and 58 are timed in such a manner that when the casting 22 arrives atthe position shown by the broken line in Fig. 4, the contact between thetooth shaped members," and is completed. The operation aforesaid is dueto the rotation of the member 58 at the time the end sections 2| and 2iof the wire ball 2! are free to locate themselves into the respectiveopenings of the ears G of the can A. After the completion of theoperation aforesaid the casting 22 returns to its original position asshown in Fig. 4. During the period of the operation of said machine, thehinzing arms 13 and 14 are brought to the position shown by the brokenlines due to the force of the spring I6. This latter operation tend tosupport the balance of the stored wire bails 21, said bails being heldin the basket 28 and are prevented from dropping out therefrom when thecasting 22 shall have completed the return to its original position, andat which time the pins 18 open the hinging arms I8 and 14 thus allowinga new wire bail to drop upon the shelf 23 in readiness for the nextdelivery to the can A. a

The operation of the machine shown in Figs. Sand '7 is similar to themanner of operation with reference to the description of Figs. 1 and 2.Instead, however, of employing oscillating arms 66 and 61 the shafts 88and cause the movement of the casting 22 due to the pins 88 which rotatewith the discs 84 and 85, said pins sliding into the slot 88 of thecasting 81. The aforesaid movement of the pin causes the shafts 88 and88' to slide into the bearings 8| and 8!", and 88 and 83" and whichcause the reciprocal movement of the casting 22.

It is understood that the particular machine described'above is intendedto be illustrative and limitative of the invention, since it is obviousthat the invention may be effected by machines arranged in otherdifferent ways, within the scope of the claims.

Now, having describedmy invention what I claim is:

1. In a machine for aflixing balls or handles upon cans or likecontainers, said machine having means therein for storing a plurality ofsaid bails, said storing means having means in conjunction therewith forreleasing and delivering one of said bails at a time to reciprocallyoperating arm means for amxing said bail upon a can, said reciprocallyoperating arm means contained in said machine, a plurality of said cansbeing conveyed and fed into said machine and discharged therefrom aftersaid bails shall have been affixed upon saidcans, and tripping means insaid machine for stopping the operation of said machine when said canshave ceased to be delivered therein, said tripping means being releasedupon the resumption of the delivery of said cans to the machineaforesaid.

2. In a machine of the class described comprising a frame having storagemeans therein for storing a plurality of bails or handles, a slidablymovable member included in said frame for receiving one bail at a timefrom said storage means, oscillating arms .in operable conjunction withsaid slidabiy movable member, said arms causing said single bail to beaffixed upon a can set in position in the machine aforesaid.

3. In a machine for afllxing a wire ball or handle upon a can orlikecontainer, said machine operating in conjunction with a can fillingmachine; conveyor means for delivering one can at a time from said canfilling machine to said wire bail aflixing machine; and tripping meansto render said wire bail amxing machine inoperative when the delivery ofsaid cans upon said conveyor means shall have ceased from said canfilling machine, said tripping means operable through the medium of themovement of said cans upon said conveyor means, said can movementcausing reoperation of said ball aiiixing machine upon the resumption ofthe delivery of said cans into the machine aforesaid.

4. In a machine of the class described for ailixing a bail or handleupon a can or like container,

said machine including a. frame, said frame having aslidable membertherein for extracting one bail at a time from a bail storingreceptacle, means in said frame for impelling a reciprocating movementto said bail extracting member: and oscillating arm means operating inconjunction with said bail extracting member for ai'lixing said singlebail upon a can; and tripping means provided to render said wire bailaffixing machine inoperative when no cans are being delivered to saidwire bail affixing machine from said can filling machine, said trippingmeans being operated through the medium of the can body thereby causingthe reoperation of said ball affixing machine when said cans resumedelivery into the machine aforesaid.

5. In a machine for affixing bails or handles upon cans or likecontainers having ears thereon, said ball afllxing machine having aframe, said frame having means therein for causing a reciprocatingmovement to a slidable movable member, said member having a pair ofsiidably movable fingers, said fingers for the purpom of receptaclewithin said frame and conjoining said .bail to the ears of said cans,said reciprocating movement being impelled through the medium of a pairof oscillating arms, said arms operating in conjunction with saidslidably movable member; and tripping means provided in said frame fordiscontinuing the oscillating movement of said oscillating arms when thedelivery of said cans shall have been suspended, said means comprisingan arm operated by the ears of said can when said can is brought intoalinement with the bail affixing machine aforesaid.

6. In a machine for affixing bails upon cans or like containers, saidbail affixing machine aflixing one of said bails upon each one of saidcans while said cans are in either horizontal or vertical positionpreparatory to having said bails affixed thereon; means for deliveringsaid cans to said bail amxlng machine, said means including an endlessbelt or like conveyor operatively connected with a can filling machine,said ball aflixing machine and said can filling machine operating intimed relation; and tripping means provided whereby said bail afllxingmachine remains inoperative while no cans are being delivered over saidconveyor to said bail aflixing machine, said tripping means beingreleased upon the resumption of the delivery of said cans to the bailaffixing machine aforesaid.

'7. In a machine for affixing balls or handles upon cans or likecontainers, conveyor means for delivering said cans to said machine,means for stopping the operation of said machine when the delivery orcans'upon said conveyor means shall have ceased, said stopping meansincluding stopping arms, said arms contacting with said cans. saidstopping arms in operable connection with clutch connecting means, saidclutch connecting means included in said machine and in operableengagement with said conveyor means while said cans are being deliveredto said machine, and the disengagement of said clutch means 1'rom saidconveyor means upon the discontinuance oi the delivery of cans into themachine aforesaid.

8. In combination, a machine for placing bails upon cans or likecontainers, conveyor means contiguous to said machine for deliveringcans thereto. said machine including a frame, a holder supported by saidframe for storing a plurality of said bails, said holder also havingoscillating arm means in connection therewith (pr releasing one 01' saidstored balls at a time to slidabiy operative member means, said slidablyoperative member means aflixing said bail upon a can; said slidabyoperative member means incuded in said machine; and tripping meanscontiguous to and operating in connection with said machine to rendersaid machine inoperative when no cans are being delivered thereto fromsaid conveyor, said tripping means being released upon the resumption ofthe movement 01' said cans upon the conveyor means aforesaid.

THOMAS J. GORMAN JR.

